Tuesday, December 16, 2014

I have been a little busy lately with establishing the monthly Australian national level reports listings, with the assistance of all the major UAP groups in this country. (Click here for the November listing.)

This post gets back to other matters. In August and September of this year, I ran a series of blog posts about a number of scientific organisations which had held symposia on UAP; and several papers from the July 2014, Paris, GEIPAN (click here) workshop.

GEIPAN:
The other day, while browsing the GEIPAN website (click here) I noticed some information about another recent meeting of interest to us. I present the text of the item on the site, translated from French to English through Google translate.

"CEFFA, Fenomenos de Committee Aereos Anomalos is a service of Direccion General de Aeronautica Civil (DGAC) of Chile, whose mission is the study of PAN, mainly those observed by the pilots. As GEIPAN is one of the few civil official agencies in charge of the study of the PAN.

Thursday October 30, 2014 at CNES headquarters in Paris, General Ricardo Bermundez, director of CEFFA met with the head of GEIPAN and certain members of its steering committee and its panel of experts.

This first meeting allowed the leaders of the two organizations to better understand their respective activities and consider the exchange of information on methods and tools."

Please take a look at the CEFFA website (click here.) For further information about General Bermundez (click here.)

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Field investigations:
Years ago, when I first started my field investigations into the phenomenon, members of the public who wished to report a sighting, telephoned a fixed line telephone number in their nearest capital city; e.g. Adelaide if you lived in South Australia. There, someone would record details of the sighting and arrange for a group investigator to travel to the witness, conduct an interview, document the report and then publish it in a hard copy group newsletter.

A UAP group in another state, would learn of the sighting details, only when they received a copy of the relevant group's hard copy newsletter, delivered by Australia Post. In later years myself, and then Rob Frola of AUFORN, published a monthly listing of Australian UAP reports, from details send to us by Australian groups and individual researchers. These sightings were initially documented in a series of hard copy monthly research digests; and then later in electronic format.

The Internet cometh:

With the advent of the Internet, all this changed. A member of the public in Australia, looking to report their observation, now has a multitude of websites, and Facebook pages, where they can electronically record details of their sighting. A search using the keywords "report ufo sighting Australia" will turn up the possibility of reporting it to, UFOINFO (in the United Kingdom); VUFOA (Melbourne) ; UFORQ (Brisbane); VUFORS (Melbourne)' UFOPRSA (Sydney); or even MUFON in the USA. As can be seen, state boundaries, and even countries, are now regularly bypassed when it comes to members of the public reporting UAP.

National level sightings list:
This ability to report to a large range of places was brought home to me since Paul Dean and I have been compiling the monthly Australian national level sightings listing, with the assistance of all the major UAP groups in this country.

In any one given month, Australian sightings turn up in the case management system of MUFON; the web pages of such groups as UFORNSW and VUFOA; the Sydney Observatory; some dozen or so Facebook pages, Youtube, and numerous other sites.

It could well be that MUFON logs details on a Perth, Western Australian incident, which no one in Western Australia ever comes across. Sydney Observatory logs dozens of sightings a month (albeit of lights in the sky, some of whch are fireballs) some from my home state of South Australia, which SAUFON never hear about. Obscure Facebook pages with small number of members, based in any location in Australia, may carry a report from New South Wales. This has made trying to get a nation wide picture difficult, hence one of the reasons for Paul Dean and I to spend time gathering reports for us all to see.

Crossing boundaries:
In assisting compiling the first two monthly national level reports listings, I thought that there may well be issues of individuals becoming upset that they were not the first port of call for a report which happened in their state. I thought I would think my way through this issue, as no doubt it will arise from time to time, if it hasn't already occurred to some people.

1. What happens in a state where there is no established UAP group? This is the current case in Western Australia. When Paul Dean and I first had details of the 19 March 2014, Perth aircraft near miss with an "unknown object" case, we looked around to see who in Western Australia might investigate it. We found no one was looking into it. Therefore, Paul and I made the decision to do so, and our detailed investigation report on the incident will be released shortly.

2. What about where a report happened in one state, say New South Wales, and the witness lives in your state and contacts you? Upon receiving the details of the case, do you refer them on to someone in New South Wales, or because you are handy to do an in person interview, do you investigate, document and publish? This happened to myself and Paul Dean in the 29 May 2014 south coast of New South Wales case. The witnesses were living in Melbourne, so does Paul Dean, so we elected to interview them, document the incident and publish details for all to read in the monthly Australian national level sightings listing.

3. What happens when the witness lives in another state to yourself, but you are the group which receives the electronic report through your web page? From talking to groups which regularly receive such interstate reports, I find that almost everyone tries to conduct their own investigation, at a distance; and hardly anyone refers the witness on to a group in the state where the witness lives. Rightly, or wrongly this is what is currently happening. Perhaps we need to discuss a protocol between ourselves which would see interstate witnesses referred to a group in the state where the witness lives?

Does it really matter?
Ultimately, does it really matter who investigates a case, as long as someone does, and eventually publishes a detailed investigation report on the incident?

Monday, December 8, 2014

The previous blog post of the November 2014 listing of national level Australia UFO/UAP reports, included preliminary details of a case from the south coast of New South Wales. At the request of the witnesses we cannot be more specific about the location; or provide personal details about the witnesses.

One of the authors (PD) has spent several hours in email, telephone, and in-person communication with both witnesses. He has no doubt that the witnesses have been open, and forthcoming with all details surrounding the event. The witnesses have supplied a map of the property and its surroundings to us; plus provided copies of ground level photographs of the locality. However, for transparency purposes in terms of this investigation report, we need to advise readers that we have not been able to visit the property; nor conduct a door to door cold call to determine if there were any more observers of the event. In addition, we have not been able to contact local news media looking for additional witnesses.

The account therefore stands on the verbal testimony of the witnesses, whom we have no reason to disbelieve. Here then, is a more detailed account of the event, than provided for in the preliminary report; plus investigation notes; discussion and analysis. What happened in the early morning hours of Thursday 29 May 2014, (the event commenced about 2am) when the witnesses were sitting outside watching the clear, moonless sky in a rural area of scattered dairy farms?

What happened?
There were several stages to the events and these will be listed below, in the order in which they occurred:

1. A hazy, white, foggy light became visible in the distance, to the west. "It was just over the hill so we could only see a misty glow at first, below the false horizon formed by the hill. It kind of looked like a house on fire, but less red/orange and more white...It's a hilly area and it was so dark (no Moon) so it's hard to be precise...It looked as though it was down in the valley but I could not see an actual source of the hazy light...To me it looked like the glow caused by a bright outside light belonging to a house, exaggerated by the mist that came with it."

2. This foggy light became larger/more obvious. "In the distance the haze grew from the size of my thumb nail, then eventually stretched to the size of my thumb...We were not looking at it consistently as we kept chatting, then each time we glanced over (about 3 times overall) it had changed significantly each time..."

3. The white hue became a red hue/fog. It seemed to "split." Instead of a vague fog, it became a row of about ten, red and blue circular lights lined up, with a bright white beam, at the front. Asked about this formation of lights, the response was "They started out in a row...then seemed to rally around a central, larger craft with a stronger white light on the front, like an eye. The smaller "escorts" had lights which were alternating between red and blue, like a slowly rotating police light but with with some occasional green thrown in...They seemed to compact together and surround/follow the white beam as it was scanning the hills/valley."

This "thing" then "...scanned the terrain of the hills and valley, just opposite to us, very low to the ground (around tree level) shining this incredible bright white light through the trees to the ground, as well as in front of itself. It was so bright it would have been able to see about 400 meters ahead. The red and blue lights were hovering around it. Whatever it was, it was looking for something...Also it made this weird oscillating sound that terrified us. It definitely was not a helicopter...It scanned in a grid pattern at what seemed to be a constant speed of around 80 km/hr."

This "scanning" light "At first, it looked like a bright motorbike light, as it came out of the scrub in the distance. When it was closer, or when it got more "active" it seemed brighter, more like a single train headlight. Quite a focused beam but definitely spreading and slightly conical...It had a back and forth motion, quite regular, like it was covering all the terrain as it ran through its "search pattern" through the valley. It never seemed more than 20 metres off the ground, except when it occasionally traversed over the tree tops."

4. "If that wasn't enough, at the same time this was happening, all around us was this foggy hazy light...this "fog" was coming from these 3 different rhombus shapes, 1 green, 1 yellow and 1 red. They had cross hatching effects/sort of laser light effects creating their shape and overlapping one another. I estimate it would have been about 10-20 metres above us. It was just hovering there above us, making no wind/breeze or anything. It was basically just this maelstrom of lights and terrifying noise. We're pretty sure the noise was coming from the scanning light and not the one above us, but can't be 100% as obviously they were "working" together.

The female witness paid more attention to the "thing" that appeared to be close and almost overhead of them. The male witness stated "That was definitely a different craft...I paid it very little attention due to my focus on the other objects. I do remember the fog which came with it and the way the lights cut through the layers of fog like lasers at a music festival...I don't think I looked up at it properly..."

5. "...the really bright light that was scanning the terrain was getting closer to us and its spotlight was scanning in our direction. By this point I was so scared I thought I was about to have a heart attack as it shone its light on us." The two witnesses decided to retreat into the nearby house.

6. They stayed inside the house for an estimated 40 minutes. During this time the noise went away. "The noise continued for maybe 5 minutes, maybe longer with the odd random beam flicking past the window. It seemed to take 20 minutes to half an hour before the sound had faded into the distance and another 40 minutes for me to build up the guts to go back outside." Then, on going outside, "...there was still some light activity, going on on the other side of the valley/hill, except instead of the really bright light making noise/scanning, there was lots of little ones. We watched for a while, then they quickly joined together to make "one" and left the mountain and as it did so. all the dogs within a few kilometers started to howl."

That was the end of the event.

What did the witnesses think it was at the time?
1. Regarding the initial haze/fog. "1) It's the neighbours back sensor light (over the hill behind us). 2) It's a car headlights coming around the road."

3. Once the lights compacted. "It must be a farmer on his quad bike..."

4. On the end lights. "...we rationally thought that maybe there were a whole bunch of farmers running around with flashlights..."

Investigation:
How does one go about investigating such an account, where you do not have on-site access, or the ability to conduct on-site checks with the neighbours, or through the media? In the end, it boils down to checking the information provided by the witnesses, against potentially mundane explanations, to try and eliminate these as a source of the observations.

A check of the lunar cycle revealed that there was a new Moon on 29 May 2014, so there would be no Moon in the sky in the early hours of that night.

A check of the weather for the nearest Bureau of Meteorology site, which was 24 kilometers away, showed that the cloud cover was most likely 1/8th at that time. Winds were light. At 3pm on 28 May, 19km/hr from the NNE and at 9am on 29 May, 20 km/hr from the SW. Thus the best estimate from this data would be relatively clear skies at 2am on the 29 May.

There is no radar coverage available of this area, so there was not an opportunity to obtain this via an FOI request.

Discussion and Analysis:
One of the authors (KB) comments as follows:

1. The usual suspects, such as stars, planets, meteors, aircraft etc. seem not to apply here, due to the direction, movement and description of the phenomenon.

2. The report initially came to us via a Facebook account. The witnesses responded to an email inquiry, and then followed up with detailed descriptions via email, telephone and in person.

3. I note that the detailed accounts supplied include what J Allen Hynek used to call an escalation of hypotheses. That is, at several points during the event, the witnesses tried to provide themselves with rational, non UAP explanations for what they were seeing. The witnesses now believe that they have ruled out any conventional explanations.

4. I can suggest only one conventional explanation which sceptics will put forward. This covers only some of the data points and would of necessity involve misperception by the witnesses. Could it be that they did indeed misperceive an "official search operation" of some kind? The fact that there were no roads in the area where the light was scanning, would not preclude a ground search, perhaps supported by a helicopter. The male witness at one stage in his account told one of the authors (PD) that "We quizzed a local farmer...he'd woken up to the sound of a helicopter at around 2am on the night in question." The male witness also stated, about the end of the event. "There seemed to be smaller lights amongst the distant scrub for 10 or 15 minutes, moving around randomly like men with torches."

Against this generalised explanation, one needs to match the witnesses' detailed description of the number and movements of the light sources, particularly the female witness' account of the close, nearly overhead extended angular diameter "object". All in all, on the supplied data, I'd be inclined to assign a low possibility (though not negligible) to this search operation hypothesis.

One of the authors (PD) checked, and found that helicopters are required to have the standard red and green navigational lights showing, and do not use blue lights. In addition, as the witnesses were outside for some time before the event began, where would a helicopter suddenly come from?

Overall, the witnesses dismiss the idea of a search operation and any involvement of a helicopter.

5. Another thought by one of the authors (KB) regarding the close, almost overhead light display (reported in detail by one of the witnesses) was the possibility that could it have been a display of the Aurora Australis? These displays feature red and green, laser like rays, and are seen to the south (the light display was to their south). It also had an extended angular size of perhaps 5-10 degrees (as do Aurora.) The Aurora prediction service issued a bulletin dated 29 May 2014 alerting observers to the fact that auroral displays were to be expected in coming months. One of the authors (PD) put this hypothesis to the female witness, who said no, it was not an aurora.

Conclusion:
On the facts provided by the two witnesses, limited by our inability to conduct an on-site investigation; the authors' assessment is that this event should be considered as an example of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP.)

I welcome comment from blog readers on both the incident itself, and on this investigation report.

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Case of the month:29 May 2014 (Reported in November 2014) Ca. 0200hrs South Coast, New South Wales (30-60) mins Currently under investigation by Paul Dean and associates.

Two people were house sitting a property. One of their favourite pastimes is to watch the sky for meteors and planets etc. So, at the time of the sighting, on a clear night with no Moon, they were sitting around a backyard campfire, chatting and looking at the sky.

The woman first noticed a hazy, white, foggy light in the distance. She drew her partner's attention to it, and over the next two minutes it became larger in size. At this point, they considered the possibility that it might be the neighbour's backyard sensor light. After four minutes it was still growing in size. They then considered whether or not it might be car headlights. At this point, suddenly the white hue became a red hue/fog. At the same time it seemed to split.

It became a row of about ten red and blue, circular lights lined up, with a bright white beam at the front. As they were new to the area they continued to look for a logical explanation. Then the row of white, blue and red lights suddenly compacted itself and an incredibly loud noise commenced. The witnesses' best guesstimate as to the distance to the object, was 900 metres. In the witness' own words "It then scanned the terrain of the hills and the valley just opposite us, very low to the ground (around tree level,) shining this incredibly bright white light through the trees to the ground, as well as in front of itself." The red and blue lights hovered around it. By this time both witnesses were terrified by the weird, oscillating sound and the foggy, hazy light, all around them.

So, there was the row of lights some distance away, plus all around them was a foggy, hazy light. This 'fog" was coming from "...three different rhombus shapes, 1 green, 1 yellow and 1 red. They had cross hatching effects/sort of laser light effects creating their shape and overlapping one another. I estimate it would have been 10-20 metres above us." There was no air turbulence felt. "We're pretty sure the noise was coming from the scanning light and not the one above us..."

At this point, the scanning light came closer to them and they ran into the house and did not look out for 40 minutes, even after the noise ceased. They then noted some light activity still going on on the other side of the valley; little lights joined together and left the area. Suddenly all the dogs in the area began to howl. The area surrounding the house has some paddocks, but is mostly bushland.

Initial investigation has so far failed to determine any mundane explanation for the event.Updated report from October:
Jeff Fausch, from Adelaide undertook some research into the 13 October 2014 sighting from Adelaide. Jeff forwarded his comprehensive investigation report to me, which I summarise below.

Jeff starts his report by noting the limited information available on which to base a detailed analysis. However, "Studying the photograph supplied with the raw report, the triangular impression described by the witness could be the result of a weather phenomenon called a "Hole Punch Cloud." A Hole Punch Cloud is the name given to a cloud/s formed from an aircraft dissipation hole or trail. Rather then extending as a line, Hole Punch Clouds appear in a circular, oval or similar shaped hole in a deck of supercooled water clouds. They are not uncommon where jet flight paths intersect altocumulus layers just before landing...." Jeff goes on to note that:

"The weather conditions on the morning of Monday 13th October were favourable for this phenomenon to occur. The temperature between 0700hrs and 0730hrs was 11c and mostly cloudy. With humidity between 44% and 66%. Rain fall 1.00mm. These weather conditions fit in with the conditions needed to form a "Hole Punch Cloud.""

"The triangular impression was in the flight path of aircraft landing at the Adelaide airport. I went onto the website "Web-Trak" to observe the landing and take off patterns of aircraft at the Adelaide airport between 0600hrs and 0745hrs. Most aircraft approached the airport from the north-east, flying over Adelaide before landing at the Adelaide airport. This fits in with the witness' observations...."

"Between 0600hrs and 0745hrs seven aircraft landed...that took them over North Adelaide..I believe it is plausible that these aircraft created/caused the unusual triangular depression in the clouds..."

Thank you to Jeff for contributing this analysis. If you have taken a look at any of the other reports carried in the October listing, please let us known your conclusions. Send them to"keithbasterfield@yahoo.com.au

November reports:

Here are the collated reports for the month of November 2014. To submit future reports, please email last months reports to keithbasterfield@yahoo.com.au before the third day of the next calendar month e.g. 3 January 2015 for reports made, or reported in, December 2014.

1 November 2014 0055hrs Rivett, Australian Capital Territory (3-4)secs Raw
While travelling westwards, a witness saw a "falling star." It was heading downwards in a clear sky. It was visible as an "orange stream of light that had lasted for 3-4 secs before turning into a green ball and disappearing."http://sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting

1 November 2014 0101hrs Rockhampton, Queensland ?mins Raw
The report states that "...sensor cam got shots of alien...and few times visited me. Now I have glowy hands and sparkle, also got that on camera.Rang my govt but they said they don't know what to do...Turns off equipment, hurts me...marks never seen before..."http://mufoncms.com/cgi-bin/report_handler.pl

1 November 2014 Sunshine Coast, Queensland Raw
Tina Garrett was watching for the international space station scheduled to travel N to SE. Over her right should she saw "a large streaking white light to orange fireball" travelling SE to N.http://sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting

1 November 2014 0150hrs East Gosford, New South Wales 10mins Raw
Samuel reported that at about 30 degrees south-west, he and a group of others "noticed a large circular shape falling to the horizon, it was bigger than the full moon...it was golden in colour and was dull in colour, it was a cloudy night...the object stayed around for maybe 10 mins...We couldn't visually see the moon, but we knew it was behind us..."http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting

2 November 2014 1550hrs Adelaide, South Australia 2mins Raw
A family were at the Adelaide Zoo. The sky was clear. They saw "a double disk shape where both disks appeared to be attached and rotating around each other, while flying in a straight line at a constant height. They silently passed the tree line and went out of sight.http://sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting

2 November 2014 (1930-2000)hrs Mt Keira, New South Wales 10mins Raw
After a "strange 6 minute torrential storm hit Wollongong, looking east towards the coast, and 30 degrees off the horizon my gf and I witnesses a slowly rising orb rising slightly in northerly direction."http://sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting

3 November 2014 1930hrs South Launceston, Tasmania 5secs Facebook, sighting form & follow up
Witness notices five or six dark spheres in western sky. Spheres visible for 5 seconds as move smoothly to the south and maintain the same elevation. Witness turned to find his phone to take a picture but the spheres were no longer visible. Location being a suburban area means a local explanation cannot be ruled out. Space debris may be possible although the Sun had not set. Investigation inconclusive.
TUFOIC.

3 November 2014 Evening East Launceston, Tasmania ?mins Facebook with picture analysis
Witness taking photographs of interesting evening clouds in western sky. On later inspection notices a bright white half sphere shaped cloud to the south west. This cloud is a different shape to the others and above the clouds. The witness recalls noting the half sphere cloud which did not move in the brief time it was observed. Inspection of the picture suggests that the half sphere maybe just an interesting cloud.
TUFOIC.4 November 2014 1940hrs AEST Broadmeadows, New South Wales ?mins Raw
The witness was jogging when, at 70 degrees north-east they saw a moving yellowish light. The stars were not yet visible in the sky.The Moon was large and bright. There was no sound associated with the light. The light appeared to rotate left to right while moving up and down. When the light was "directly above me I could see the light positioned on the side of a matt black disc approximately 40 metres diameter about 250m up..." The witness was terrified. The object left at about 60km/hr to the south-east, moving in a jolting and intermittent motion.http://mufoncms.com/cgi-bin/report_handler.pl

7 November 2014 0143hrs Wooloowin, Brisbane, Queensland 20mins Possibly Jupiter.
A woman was driving outbound along Gympie Road, Lutwyche, when her attention was caught by a big ball of light in the eastern sky. She estimated the altitude to be ten stories in height, and remaining stationary. She could see the light ebbing and flowing with shafts of light emitting from it. She eventually arrived at her destination at Wooloowin, got out of her car and went inside to check if it was the ISS, Mars or Venus which were not in the area at the time. She could also see a cloudy arc behind the light, although there were no other clouds in the sky at the time and stars were easily visible. She observed the object for 20 minutes in total. The camera used was a Sony Xperia Z, 28m/p HD. Possibly Jupiter which rises at 0038hrs.
UFO Research Queensland.

9 November 2014 1300hrs Brisbane, Queensland 15mins
From my balconey near Brisbane CBD I was watching the Police Helicopter buzzing around for the G20. Then I noticed clearly in the blue skies, very high, perhaps more than 20,000 feet, an object hovering around which was emitting a white light as bright as a star. The light was fading then shining very bright! It could not have been a plane because it hovered around slowly in opposite directions. Nor could it have been a balloon because the wind would take it in one direction. I thought could it be a drone? But would a drone emit such a bright shining light like a star? I guess not! I observed it clearly for more than 15 minutes.
UFO Research Queensland.

9 November 2014 1950hrs Landsborough, Victoria 10mins Raw
A sound like a crack of thunder alerted a witness to two objects high in the western sky. It was not quite dark. His first thought was that they were meteors but upon viewing them through binoculars saw each had two parallel short tails. The witness thought they moved too slow to be meteors, and they appeared to stop at times. Eventually they disappeared over the horizon.http://www.vufoa.com

10 November 2014 Night Darwin, Northern Territory ?mins Raw
"...I stopped to look around as its just the thing I do. To the Northeast this craft was having a jolly old time flashing brightly while dancing around the sky..."
Alan Ferguson. http://www.ufoterritory.com.au

Posted 12 November 2014 Coastal Victoria Raw
A Youtube user "Scott Mcmahon" uploaded a video. "...when I was scrolling along the coast of Victoria I found what looks like a flying disk. It is not something stuck to the camera and it is not a plane or a blimp or a bird or an insect..."https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GPd_hP14tE

12 November 2014 2000hrs Avoca Beach, New South Wales 60mins Raw
The witness reported a very bright light in the south-eastern sky. It was pulsating in white, red, then white again. It was stationary, then "little white specks fell from it..." The sky was fairly clear just a few clouds. http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/

12 November 2014 2245hrs Mooroolbark, Melbourne, Victoria Several mins Raw
Two people reported seeing three silent "unidentified aircraft and accompanying lights flying in formation... The lights moved rapidly across the sky and then stopped and hovered in the sky above our home, in a west to north-west direction. The lights appeared very high in the sky. The three craft came together and then were still for several minutes before dispersing in three directions: west north westerly; westerly, and north. The dispersion was fast. Too fast for a plane or a helicopter. They just seemed to vanish. We took photos which show tiny red images in the sky..."

Posted 13 November 2014 Sydney, New South Wales ?mins Raw
User "6666ufoMr" posts a video sequence which appears to show a single object, enlarged and examined. There is a comment "Olympus sp-100ee" by the poster. Another comment suggests it is a helium filled balloon.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-3F9FRF7ds

15 November 2014 0030hrs Ulverstone, Tasmania ?mins Facebook
Two witnesses driving home see a bright blue flash across the sky. No follow up possible.
TUFOIC.15 November 2014 1800hrs Longreach, Queensland Telephone interview
A witness reported that an egg-shaped object fell out of the sky onto the property where he worked. The object left a big impact in the ground. It caught fire on impact and burned over 2000 acres of land plus a shed. He called the rural fire brigade to check the situation but they had no record of the fire trucks going to the area yet three fire trucks had arrived. The witness was confused as to how "the fire brigade beat them to a fire on their own property." While on the phone his brother and uncle arrived so he hung up saying he'd call back. Witness did not want to leave a phone number. UFORQ has no further details.
UFO Research Queensland.15 November 2014 (2030-2045)hrs Toowoomba, Queensland ?mins Raw
While looking at the night sky in a light polluted area, witnesses reported facing the north-north-east and seeing an object come from 45 degrees north, track across the sky and vanish at 35-40 degrees south-west.http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/

15 November 2014 2145hrs near Port Lincoln, South Australia 15mins Raw
After a flash of light in the sky the witness saw a bright star like object at 70 degrees north. The star next to it zigzagged. The bright stars continued to move with each other over a period of 15 minutes.http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/16 November 2014 0115hrs Proserpine (22 minutes north), Queensland Telephone interview
Three witnesses were camping and fishing at a creek and watching the stars. They are very familiar with the stars as they drive cattle in accordance with them. They soon noticed the stars in the sky weren't right and the constellation of the "saucepan" was turned around 180 degrees. The birds in the area then started "going crazy" and crocodiles in the creek started "splashing around." Then they observed lights in the sky grouping together at a high altitude and seemingly firing at each other. Meanwhile they observed a "half-moon shaped" object falling slowly down to the ground. It was described as having an outer cover like an orange rind. There was another light object above it that see,ed to be struggling to retrieve the object beneath it so it wouldn't fall to earth. As the falling object fell, it did so slowly and rocked like a cradle. The outer casing eventually slipped off and hit the ground causing an extremely large fire in an instant estimated to be 1000 acres catching fire at once. This caused burning on the face of the main witness which affected his eyes. This occurred approximately 5 kms from the witnesses followed by the appearance of a very large cloud approximately 10kms high and 100 metres in thickness. The cloud slowly moved across the area where the witnesses were standing with their vehicles and as it passed the witnesses could see four objects behind the cloud seeming to push or at least direct the cloud towards the fire. The cloud then merged with the smoke from the fire, followed by what seemed to be an effect of this merging. The witness described the effect as gravity occurring. Then the vehicles began making a creaking noise as they were slowly dragged towards the location of the merging fire and cloud, and one of the vehicles was described as being "up on two wheels." The force then affected the witnesses, two of whom clung to each other to stop from being pulled into the fence. This gravitational effect lasted for 20 minutes before abating. The falling object was recovered and the objects left the area leaving the witnesses disturbed by what they had seen. The witnesses are now having trouble sleeping and since the incident "don't feel right" as they struggle with their changed reality. The witness called again to say he was returning to the scene to attempt to find some debris and look over the area. He said he would call back to advise the results. Witness did not want to leave a phone number.
UFO Research Queensland.

16 November 2014 ICa. 1900hrs Ingham, Queensland Few mins
I was in my backyard burning leaves. When I stepped away from the fire I looked up and saw this stationary light. It was Sunday night, I think (not sure now) about 7pm. It was there for a few minutes then it just disappeared. It didn't move off. The night was almost cloudless so there was no cloud for it to go behind. I didn't see outline of a craft. I'm not sure but I think there was a quick flash of red light as if behind it. A drone? It was about the size of Venus.
UFO Research Queensland.

17 November 2014 Daytime Sydney, New South Wales 18mins Raw
"When I filmed the plane this strange object was passing the plane, then UFOs appeared near the Chem Trail. The camera was used: Sony DCR-T RV.530 digital camera with IR 850 infra red optical filter fitted."https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqJJKQFApSo18 November 2014 0230hrs Gold Coast, Queensland (5-10)secs Raw
Reports of a green to purple light in the sky, very bright and very large. Followed by a less intense red flash. Lit up most of the sky.http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting/

18 November 2014 2330hrs Bridgeport, Tasmania Several mins Facebook & telephone
Witness reports a square area of light with a red rim over sea to north of home. As looks at shape tries to think of an explanation. Remains stationary but changes into different shapes and pulsing colours. Hurried inside after several minutes and did not observe it again. Sighting details to be forwarded. TUFOIC.

19 November 2014 2222hrs Grovedale, Australia Mins Raw
Two people were sitting on their front porch when they sighted a light approaching from the west-south-west. Observed through binoculars, it appeared as a "star/planet" would. When directly above them, it changed course to the north in a slow, sweeping turn. It travelled 15 degrees, then vanished. There were no clouds in that part of the sky.
MUFON case management system.

21 November 2014 2048hrs Berkeley Vale, New South Wales 45secs Raw
Scott sighted a light in the sky tracking in an arc approximately 60 degrees above the horizon, looking to the north. It took 45 seconds to cross the sky from west to east. It was white in colour.http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting

21 November 2014 2123hrs Eggs & Bacon Bay, Tasmania 3mins Telephone, sighting form, video
Witness inside home notices bright light in northern sky. Goes outside to view, then has time to go into home to collect mobile to take video. Bright orange to yellow ball with red rim and tail drops down sky before losing speed. After 3 minutes changes to blue flashing light gains elevation and goes quickly to west. About an hour later, a smaller and similar light is seen to the north. This stops in the sky for 5 seconds, flashes blue, then in seconds moves away in an arc to the west. Investigation to be completed.
TUFOIC.

22 November 2014 245hrs Dubbo, New South Wales 5mins Raw
Amber sighted a very large, bright white light travelling from the south-west to north-east. Quite cloudy at the time. Object was flying below and in and out of the clouds. Travelling quite fast. No sound.http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting

22 and 23 November 2014 (2000-2030hrs on 22ns; 1830-1900hrs 23rd) Henley Brook, Perth, Western Australia 3mins on 22nd
On the first night a woman observed UFOs flying over her area around 8-8.30pm. It did not appear to be a plane, made no sound and did not take the usual route the planes do (we live on a flight path.) She thought it might have been flying about or above cloud level as it disappeared for a few seconds then reappeared. She watched it for about three minutes as it flew across the sky and out of sight.

On the second night around 6.30-7pm.she took a photo of a tree on her property and as she viewed it on her computer she discovered an object above the tree height and to her amazement on looking closer, could see up to 13 round objects that appear to surround a long object. None of her other shots have any of these objects and the sky looks clear. Photos posted on UFORQ Facebook page.
UFO Research Queensland.

23 November 2014 0418hrs Churchlands, Perth, Western Australia 20secs
On early Sunday morning, a man arrived back home from a friend's house at about 4.10am He went out the back to his shed to have a cigarette before going to bed. The time was approximately 4.18am at this point. A few minutes passed and he had a "weird feeling" he could not explain. Shortly after at 4.23am he hopped off the chair he was sitting on to look into the sky and noticed a bright cluster of four stars. Split seconds later, one of the stars started moving at a very fast pace in an easterly direction from Scarborough Beach towards Perth Hills, at cloud height. He managed to only view the object for no longer than 20 seconds. It was moving a lot faster than a passenger aircraft, before disappearing behind cloud cover never to be seen again.
UFO Research Queensland.

23 November 2014 2202hrs Canberra, Australian Capital Territory /mins Raw
An odd sound was heard outside, so the witness went to investigate. They noticed a moving 'star'. "As I continued to stare at the object it went extremely bright. I felt paralysed. It disappeared soon after that." They reported having trouble working.
MUFON Case management system.

24 November 2014 0102hrs Browns Plains, Brisbane, Queensland 1min
Three people couldn't sleep because it was so hot, so they went outside and started staring at the stars. About 20 minutes later they noticed a weird glowing green/yellow triangle formation heading north-west. They only watched it for about one minute.
UFO Research Queensland. Previous months:
All groups receive cases which are older than the current month. Therefore, in addition to current monthly reports the following cases should also be noted:

1995 Townsville, Queensland (Reported 26 Nov 2014) 30mins
A witness observed a small round light above a nearby hill while looking through a glass window. It was approximately 100 metres from his location and the size of a person, and changing colours from blue to yellow, red and green. He watched the object for 30 minutes and during this time stepped outside to see it more clearly. He checked the next day to see if the object was still there but it was gone.
UFO Research Queensland.

1998 Tully, Queensland (Reported 26 Nov 2014.) 60mins
A man was located at East Faluga looking south-west towards Tully. He observed a "spaceship" performing erratic movements for one hour in the sky before cloud cover obscured his vision. During this time he knocked on his neighbour's van to point out the object and the neighbour saw it too. The object had red, white and blue lights across the middle of it, and a white light above and below. The next evening he was in his caravan when lights entered the windows of the van on either side, one at a time at five second intervals. He described the light as being "as bright as day" as it shone through heavy rubber curtains. At this time he was paralysed until he heard the sound of "metal popping." He then became free to move around once again. By this time it was 5am. He then stepped outside into a heavy misty fog and found what he thought might be angel hair falling down from above on to his skin. As it touched his skin it dissipated on contact.
UFO Research Queensland.22 May 2014 1300hrs North Eastern Adelaide, South Australia 2hrs Investigation remains open
Woman claims to have lost 2 hours between 1pm to 3pm. A new battery in her Tissot watch stopped at 1pm, since winding on has never stopped to this day 21st Oct. Woman said she cannot recall that timeline and felt hazy, fuzzy, blurred in memory. Usually during this timeline incorporated a coffee break at around 2.30ish, she claims never had a coffee or tea break, she did not feel right until the next morning. She cannot remember anything in those 2 hours missing from her day. The woman is astounded she cannot recall anything at all.
SAUFON.

18 July 2014 Ca2100hrs A southern hotel, South Australia ?mins Current investigation
A southern hotel. Around 10 patrons witnessed a USO coming out of the water and hovering over the water with that looked like "dark" water being drawn up into the UFO. Then in an instance, it disappeared without a trace.
SAUFON.

10 August 2014 2000hrs Prospect, Adelaide, South Australia 10mins Investigation closed with conclusion
Two women reported to have witnessed a small, blur, orb, overhead at Prospect. Between Prospect and Churchill Roads. The blue orb was a small size about the size of a thumb nail at arm distance. It had fuzzy, but soft looking edging. The blue was a deep bright mid air blue. The orb travelled from south to north, then directly overhead their location, did a sharp tight u turn and headed south. The orb was around 100 to 200m in the sky. Scanning the sky for 10 minutes after their first sighting, it came back from south heading north and just prior to passing their direction it turned 90 degrees and headed westerly.The orb seemed floating and peacefully moving slowly. Picture.
SAUFON.

22 August 2014 1730hrs Southern area of Adelaide, South Australia ?mins Investigation closed with conclusion
Man reports on behalf of his wife that his wife had witnessed 4 lines of cloud puffs appear from orbs over a well known southern area of Adelaide. The 4 lines of cloud puffs produced about 2 clouds each line. See SAUFON website for full report.
SAUFON.

10 September 2014 1830hrs Between Clare and Balaklava, South Australia 1min Investigation closed - noted
Man driving from Clare to Balaklava witnesses 2 glowing white bright orbs travelling from north to south in tow a solid looking craft that was the same colour, glowing white. Sighting was for around 1 minute. By the time the man stopped the car to take a picture, in a suitably safe area roadside, then the objects had disappeared. He witnessed several small flashes in the sky immediately afterward. The experience had shaken the man saying, they were no aircraft and no known technology humans have now. Pictures.
SAUFON.

3 October 2014 1500hrs Adelaide, South Australia ?mins Current investigation
While driving down the southern highway, travelling south, a woman witnessed a huge area of white water bubbling away in the sea at a distance of approximately 1.5km out to sea. Intrigued by never noticing a reef in ocean in that area ever before. Further investigation reveals there is no reef in that immediate area at all, which would cause the white water disturbance. Over the white water bubbling she witnessed 2 small black helicopters hovering and swooping the bubbling sea and moving around tightly in that general area, above the white water at least between 15 to 50m high. The helicopters, were very small compared to normal tourist or commercial helicopters, normally seen elsewhere. Never before in this area have helicopters been sighted at a low altitude and concentrating on a small area of the sea. The white water bubbling was guesstimated at around 60ft in circumference in a reasonably shallow area of the sea and about 100ft off shore. Could that have been a USO?
Diagram will be on the SAUFON website shortly.
SAUFON.

8 October 2014 1030hrs Collinswood, Adelaide, South Australia A few mins Investigation closed -noted
Woman witnesses a solid black triangle stationary over Collinswood area, directly above the ABC radio and television building, which is 4km north-east of Adelaide GPO. The woman said the triangle black object was large, about the size of small aircraft, hanging in one place, not moving, just stationary in the sky a thumb nail size at arms distance, silhouetted against a low cloud. She noticed the object at the intersection of Regency Road and Main North Road, travelling south heading toward the city. She was the first car in a line at the traffic lights and noticed it, immediately. lasting over a set of lights all 4 ways. She wanted to get her phone to take a photo but thought not to because it is an offense to do so in South Australia with a hefty fine and demerit points. As soon as the lights turned green she went into the first car park at Sefton Park, near the ANZ bank to take a photo of it, by the time she stopped the car and set her phone up to take a photo, it had gone. Note: Keith Basterfield, UFO phenomena interview was being aired in Port Pirie on ABC around this time.
Witness drawing on SAUFON website shortly.
SAUFON.

12 October 2014 1400hrs Fitzroy/Prospect, Adelaide, South Australia 4plus mins Investigation closed - noted
A man reports seeing one white, glowing, round, UFO high in the sky, slowly moving west to east direction over Fitzroy/Prospect area. He attempted to video it on his mobile phone, but unfortunately the video is not of good quality and you can barely see it. The UFO was sighted for over 4 minutes as it travelled slowly in the sky. It was a clear afternoon. He could not identity if it was a white balloon or something of strangeness. Snapshot from video on SAUFON website shortly.
SAUFON.

13 October 2014 1730hrs North Adelaide, South Australia ?mins Investigation closed -conclusion
A woman travelling along Park Terrace, North Adelaide sees 4 lines of several puffs of smoke produced from nothing. Have video of the cloud disippating. The puffs of clouds were in straight line and there were 2 groups of clouds. The witness was excited at the appearance of the cloud puffs. See SAUFON website for full report.
SAUFON.

15 October 2014 0900hrs Tanunda, South Australia 0.5mins Investigation closed - noted
Tanunda - travelling on Gommersal Road, heading east towards the Barossa Valley Hills, a woman witnessed a huge craft appear from nothing and was stationary for around 30 seconds before disappearing. The craft was larger than any aircraft from the Adelaide airport. Calming, earthy, dirty orange hues and round in shape like a traditional disc shape. She was amazed at the size of the UFO as it 'hung' over the hills. The area is traditionally called the Mount Crawford forest area.
Drawing on SAUFON website shortly.
SAUFON.

25 October 2014 1930hrs Current investigation
Woman captures on video, a black orb travelling from north to south about 500/1000m in the sky.
During a thunderstorm. Pictures.
SAUFON.

25 October 2014 2130hrs Current investigation
Woman captures on video, a transparent craft travelling over her area during a lightning storm. It was approximately 50 feet from the house roof and video shows possible alien heads.
SAUFON.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Introduction:
I have read numerous conspiracy based websites about the depth of the involvement of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), in UAP. Few people, however, have had the opportunity to interact with CIA personnel with an interest, in this area. So, it was with great delight that I read Maccabee's book titled "The FBI CIA UFO Connection."2014. Published by Richard Dolan Press. Rochester, NY. ISBN 978-150 231 7216.

"First contact" 1979:

Maccabee relates that following his investigation of the 1978 New Zealand, visual, radar and photographic case, he was referred to a Dr Gordon MacDonald of the MITRE Corporation, who referred him to a contact in the CIA known to MacDonald.

"About the middle of March...I got a call from a man who said he worked at the CIA and offered me the opportunity to get some technical help if I would present my work to the CIA." (p.259.)

Maccabee then presented his NZ case work to seven CIA employees, one of whom was a Christopher 'Kit' Green. Green invited Maccabee to return at a later date "...for a more general discussion of the UFO subject." (p.296.) Maccabee subsequently met with Green and two other CIA employees. "Kit portrayed his interest in the subject , and that of the others, as more of a personal than an agency interest." (p.297.) A week later, Maccabee returned to talk to a radar expert at the CIA about the New Zealand case.

1984:
Maccabee was at this stage working at the Naval Surface Weapons Center in Maryland, in the field of Laser Generated Underwater Sound (LGUS.) In August 1984, he received a call from a Dr Ronald Pandolfi. Pandolfi was"...a scientist and intelligence analyst in the Scientific Intelligence branch of the CIA." (p.299.) Pandolfi questioned Maccabee about LGUS. Pandolfi knew of Maccabee's UAP interests, and earlier visits to the CIA, via Kit Green. "Thus began a more than fifteen year association with Ron based on the original CIA interest in LGUS and an unofficial interest of Ron and other agency employees on the subject of UFOs and the status of UFO research." (p.301.)

1986:
Pandolfi resurfaced at the time of the 17 November 1986, JAL1628 aircraft encounter over Alaska. Maccabee learned of the case via Pandolfi on 30 December 1986 and "I told Ron about my concern and boldly asserted that I could do a better investigation than the FAA." (p.313.) Pandolfi contacted the FAA and arranged a meeting with John Callahan, Division Chief of the Accidents and Investigations Branch of the FAA. Pandolfi, Maccabee and another CIA employee met on 5 February 1987 with Callahan and others. "Then, as we left, Ron surprised me with a gift: a box containing radar printouts, transcripts of interviews, a copy of the AARTCC voice tape and numerous other valuable documents." (p.316.)

"At the time of the investigation I wondered whether or not Ron would get into trouble for supplying me with the information I needed to analyse the sighting. After all, UFO investigation was not supposed to be a task of the CIA...Many years later (2008) he told me that there was an official concern but it was not that the UFOs may have been ET craft. Rather it was that they might have been Soviet jets trying to use a large commercial jet aircraft, as a sort of cover for clandestine flights over Alaska. (p.319.)

1987:
Pandolfi invited Maccabee "...to speak about the UFO subject at CIA headquarters." (p.322.) He did so on 7 July 1987 to about two dozen people. One effect was "...my lecture had created a lot of "spies" within the agency, that is, employees who were using their top secret clearance level to nose around and try to find top secret UFO related information and projects. Whether anyone found such projects, I do not know." (p.322.)

Pandolfi later told Maccabee that "...a CIA archivist had spent some amount of time searching but had not found MJ-12 in the CIA files. " (p.324.)

Gulf Breeze:
Maccabee then became involved with investigations into the numerous visual sightings, and photographs associated with Gulf Breeze.

During meetings about the LGUS Maccabee appraised Pandolfi of his investigations "...there apparently was a considerable level of interest on the part of CIA employees. About the middle of September, I showed some of Ed's pictures to several employees and was invited to discuss this and other UFO subjects with a branch chief." (p.332.) Maccabee then lectured at the CIA about his Gulf Breeze research.

1989:
A wave of sightings came out of the Soviet Union. Maccabeewrites "In August 1989, I pointed out to Ron that we could not keep up with the Russian flap because of the language problem, so he arranged to have newspaper articles translated for agency use and for me to receive copies of FBIS translations." (p.339.)

"About two months later, in June, Ron told me that the fact that Maltsev had made a series of official reports about the March 21 sighting caused quite a stir at upper CIA levels." (p.340.) Maltsev was Air Defence General Igor Maltsev.

1993:
In 1993, the Director of the CIA Robert James Woolsey asked National Reconnaissance Office historian Gerald K Haines "...to review all the records on the subject and write what would be the official history of the CIA involvement with the subject of UFOs." (p.341.) Maccabee received a copy in 1996, "I thought I might learn something about saucers/UFOs that I didn't know. No such luck." (p.344.)

"The subject of my last lecture at the CIA was a UFO that had a "magnetic personality.""(p.348.) This was the 11 September 1992 Gulf Breeze case when an investigator used a flux gradient magnetometer to determine the presence of a magnetic field, where the sighting had occurred. Maccabee writes "The CIA employees were as puzzled as I by the "magnetic sighting." (p.356.)

Summary:
Maccabee summarises his efforts by saying "From the time I first visited the CIA, I wanted the answers to two main questions...I wanted to know (a) if they had top secret information about UFOs and (b) if they were in control of the assumed cover up." (p.357.)

In response to these two questions, Maccabee says "Kit seemed to treat the subject as something of medium importance, not very important but not something to laugh at...Ron on the other hand, seemed to treat it as a joke or an amusement." (p.358.)

"...but there didn't seem to be an official reason for the CIA to pay any attention to UFO research. Then, in 1990, Ron told me the official reason: the possibility of espionage. He said that in the 1970's, the CIA had obtained "firm evidence" that the KGB had devised a plan to use US citizens, including UFOlogists, to penetrate the US defense program." (p.354.)

Maccabee answers part two of hit two part question, was there a hidden CIA control group, by saying Pandolfi, in March 1994 told him "The Director of Central Intelligence and the Deputy Director come to me when they want to know what is going on in UFOs. He admitted there might be a liaison person, a sort of "mole" in the CIA, working with a UFO group in another agency, but he was "not aware of any group in the CIA.""(p.361.)

Maccabee mentions in other places in his book, that he felt he knew more about the UFO topic than any CIA employee he came across.

"Kit, during a conversation in 2008, provided a potential answer to this question. He told me that he had questioned 18 top level CIA officers to cabinet ministers and high level military and even a president. Most didn't know anything about the subject but some did. This led him to conclude that there was something going on, but not in the government." (.361.)

Having said all the above, Maccabee notes, that in 2012 "...another CIA employee, Chase Brandon told interviewers that he had seen, some years before, a "Roswell box" inside a Top Secret vault that contained part of the Historical Intelligence Collection of the CIA." (p.362.)

My comments:
Overall, a very interesting insight by Maccabee into the role of the CIA in UAP. One wonders which of their employees now, if any, undertakes the role previously taken by Christopher Green and Ronald Pandolfi?

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Quite a few researchers are interested in sound recordings of material relating to UAP. Perhaps listening to detailed interviews with witnesses; or an historical overview of the entire phenomenon. Well, the latest audio visual file releases from the National Archives of Australia (NAA) (click here)
may contain something of interest to you.

The NAA electronic catalogue, RecordSearch, now lists thirty audio visual files. The status of almost all of these recordings is "not yet examined." This means that you will need to submit an application for the file(s) to be inspected and cleared for release; a process which can take months. Then you pay a fee and wait for the material to be made available to you.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

This is the first of a series of monthly compilations of current UAP reports from Australia prepared by Melbourne colleague, Paul Dean (click here to see Paul's own blog) and I. We are in the process of talking to various Australian civilian UAP organisations and individuals, with a view to acting as a central collection point for such reports. It is hoped that this monthly collection will build in volume as more groups and individuals participate. We make no comment, as to whether or not, these reports refer to examples of the "core" UFO/UAP phenomenon, or have mundane explanations. That is not the intent of this collection.

Format:

The format of each report will be date, time, location, duration, either "raw" (that is an un-investigated report); "telephone report" (meaning that an investigator spoke to the witness by telephone;) or "investigated" (meaning someone has looked into the details of the report and published their findings.) Finally a source is cited for the report.

These monthly collections:

1. Will allow us all to gauge the volume of reports which are received nationally each month, and how this varies over time.

2. Should allow us to determine what percentage of all such incoming "raw" reports remain unidentified after investigation.

3. Should allow us to determine, which, if any, off the incoming "raw' reports is worthy of a deeper study, and then allocate resources to this smaller number.

4. Will save others having to collect the same information. Paul and I are undertaking this for us all.

5. Will be useful when dealing with media inquiries about "recent reports", "patterns in the data" and other such inquiries.

For a deeper discussion on why collect such reports, please see my VUFOA conference presentation at:

For anyone wishing to submit (Australian only) reports to this monthly collection, we would appreciate you simply sending a summary (see examples below) as close to the last day of the calendar month as possible, by email to

Once the monthly summary is prepared, it will be posted on this blog within a few days of the start of the next calendar month, e.g. first week in November for October reports. We will alert participants to the fact that it has been published.

Investigations:
You will note that most of the reports featured in this blog are labelled "raw" meaning that they are un-investigated. If you take an interest in any of the reports, and can undertake an investigation into that report, please take the time to do so. Then write up a report of what you find and send it to us at:

keithbasterfield@yahoo.com.au

Reposting:

Recipients of the information are free to re-post, re-publish, etc. The intent is to provide anyone who is interested, with summarised data. Naturally, when re-posting it would be nice of you to credit the source, namely Paul Dean and Keith Basterfield, given that we are taking the time to compile this resource.

Older reports:

You will see, that currently, the listing does not provide details of any older than the previous month's cases. However, besides summaries of the month just gone; we are happy to report on cases once they have been investigated, however old they are. If the investigation report is lengthy, we would propose to provide a summary on this blog and a link to your website; blog, etc where your full investigation report may be read.

AUFORN:

The contents of these blog posts will also be forwarded to the Australian UFO Research Network (AUFORN) for their use, and possible publication in the "UFOlogist" magazine. Hopefully, this will assist with their work, given that many reports are now bypassing their national telephone hotline service, and appearing on such diverse websites as MUFON (USA); UFOINFO (UK); Sydney Observatory; etc. which no-one has the time to constantly monitor.

This month's collection:

3 October 2014 2241hrs Surfers Paradise, Queensland 7mins Raw
"At Agean apartments on 29th floor balcony looking towards Oracle building. It was above the Oracle. It had a red flashing attachment below. Hovering. Later it was flashing different colours. Red, green, blue. I know it must be a UFO. Now it is above Main beach at 10.48pm"
MUFON Case Management System. http://mufoncms.com/cgi-bin/report_handler.pl?req=search_page

5 October 2014 Day Clayton South, Melbourne, Victoria 10mins Raw
A 2mins 53sec daytime video which shows blue sky and trees. A small white light is seen moving across the blue sky.http://www.petermaxwellslattery.com/

8 October 2014 2235hrs Brisbane, Queensland 10mins Raw
A woman reported seeing "round yellow circular light to the right side of the Moon.. I observed this light merge into three circular balls of light then merge back into one. This light travelled further to the right down and back to the left. It disappeared behind the clouds..."http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting

10 October 2014 1930hrs Sunshine Coast, Queensland 3 secs Raw
In a clear sky, Ben, saw a brilliant, orange-red light in the sky, heading north. "Object moved in a straight line for approx 3 secs then did a violent large zig zag manoeuvre.." then sped off and disappeared.http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting

11 October 2014 2000hrs Daisy Hill, Queensland 20secs Telephone report
Three witnesses observed an orange object in the western sky travelling south-west. It moved at a constant speed, slightly slower than a plane. Twice something like a small droplet fell from the object after a small starry explosion. The entire sighting was 20 seconds. After discussing it further, the witness thought that it could have been a Chinese lantern hoax device.
UFO Research Queensland.

12 October 2014 (0230-00300hrs) Woongarrah, New South Wales (3-5)secs Raw
Witness was looking south with a full Moon to the north at about 60 degree elevation. The sky was very clear. Object seen at 80 degrees elevation, travelling NNW to SSE. Bright white ball with long white tail. Burnt out or broke up.http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting12 October 2014 2255hrs Petrie, Brisbane, Queensland ?mins Raw
Witness reported three small, star-like orange moving lights in the sky over Petrie, travelling very slowly. "Two were close to each other. One very faint hard to see."http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting13 October 2014 0720hrs Adelaide, South Australia ?mins Raw
"Woke up to a cloudy morning that day and was looking outside the balcony while having my morning tea. When I noticed an impression of what seems to be an invisible/reflective aircraft in the clouds. It is triangular and stationary. The clouds gave away the shape and size of the craft which is flying higher than an airplane that is about 5-8 minutes into take off and is much bigger. The plane flew past the same line of sight as where the craft was and the invisible craft was about 5 times bigger than the plane even though its further away from where I was observing. It is unknown how long the craft stayed as I have to leave for work. I took a photo of it and will be attaching to this report (raw/unedited.)"The attached single photograph is a daylight picture of a cloudy sky above rooftops. The cloud has a "rippled" look to it. In the lower, middle of the photo is a roughly triangular "cloud-like" mass. The photograph may be viewed athttp://www.mufoncms.com/files/60569_submitter_file1__pic.jpg
MUFON Case Management System. http://mufoncms.com/cgi-bin/report_handler.pl?req=search_page

13 October 2014 1900hrs Elderslie, Sydney, New South Wales Raw
A male member of the Benge family was filming in slow motion during a storm, to capture lighting strikes. When the family replayed the footage they noticed :An object is seen merging from the bottom right of the screen, shooting across the sky, then disappearing out of sight." The family discounted it being a bird or an insect. "We didn't see it with our own eyes" they said. The family then found the Rosemeadow photographs (see above item) on the Internet. "Shawn confirmed the Rosemeadow photographs were taken from the same direction his younger brother had captured the object on video."
Macathur Chronicle (Camden edition) newspaper, 21 October 2014, page 6. 13 October 2014 2240hrs Eagleby, Brisbane (1-2)mins Raw
A woman reported seeing a large, "bright orange light that travelled much faster than a normal plane." Weather was overcast and drizzling. "Going North or North West. Could even have been going West."http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting

14 October 2014 (1930-2000hrs) Mt Collum area, Sunshine Coast, Queensland Mins Telephone and Facebook reports
A young man reported that his sister called him at work to say she and a friend had seen 6 or 7 orange lights from the top of Mt Collum that were pulsing in the sky then disappearing. This made him take more notice of the sky, and when he was driving west, he also observed two lights together and pulsing. The lights were moving up and down and he could identify their movements in comparison to nearby stars. Later when driving home from work at 3.05am he observed one object in the western sky near the Kunder Park area. He later heard from a friend whose father had also observed similar lights just above tree top height around the same time..

Meanwhile the man's sister called to report that she had seen one orange light appear at first, fading in and out, followed by the appearance of a second light. Soon after another four lights appeared in a "clump," then started fading in and out. This lasted for one minute then they disappeared. Ten minutes later she drove down the mountain and saw another three lights appear. They looked like they were falling and fading in and out while doing so. Eventually they disappeared too. The objects were half the size of her fingernail at arm's length. The sky was clear at the time of the sightings. The woman sent an image as a depiction of what she observed.

The UFO Research Queensland Facebook page was flooded with comments from other people reporting similar observations. These came from multiple locations, such as Flaxton, Peregian Beach, and Yandina to Cooroy.
UFO Research Queensland.

14 & 15 October 2014 (2000-2100hrs) Buderim, Queensland 60mins Raw
"My partner and I have witnesses a bizarre light display from our balcony...These lights are bright yellow and very noticeable and occurred in the same part of the sky the last two nights between the hours of 8 and 9pm. They appear to blink on, increasing in intensity over about 5 seconds in varying formations and then fade out over a couple of seconds. We've witnessed up to 8 at once in the sky, sometimes lighting up in a row of 3 or 4 objects which almost touch with one light up as the object next to it fades out. They appeared 6 or 7 times over the hour I mentioned, both nights." North-east from Bunderim over the ocean, not too high above the horizon.http://m.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/strange-lights-off-mooloolaba/2422862

15 October 2014 1500hrs Gold Coast, Queensland 60mins Telephone report
A man reported seeing a round, white sphere in the sky just left of the Sun while looking west from the Gold Coast. He had been observing the object for one hour. He reported that the Gold Coast Bulletin newspaper had been receiving calls from people, reporting the same thing. UFORQ contacted the GCB newspaper but the journalist had not heard of any reports.
UFO Research Queensland.

15 October 2014 (1730-2130hrs) Alexandra Headlands, Queensland 240mins Telephone report
A man reported seeing 9 red/orange orb shaped objects over the ocean at 20 degree altitude and 200 to 30 nautical miles off the coast. The objects were pulsating while stationary and flashing on and off in 20 second intervals. The first object was observed at 5.30pm from outside the Maroochydore surf club. Then he observed more objects intermittently until the objects disappeared about three hours later.
UFO Research Queensland.

18 October 2014 ?hrs Fraser Island, Queensland ?mins Raw
Twenty one people on a school camp reported seeing unusual lights which they thought might be flares. Police investigated but no boats or military activity was in the area. Lights een at 5-10degrees elevation and azimuth 130 degrees. "Have great photos."http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting

18 October 2014 1549hrs Canberra, Australian Capital Territory ?mins Raw
"I was on top of a ferris wheel with a DSLR Canon EFS 55-250mm lens with 58mm lens hood at the 2014 Canberra Floriade event and its surroundings. I only discovered unknown object by uploading and enlarging digital photo onto my iMac. At first glance I assumed it to be a dust particle but realised that none of my other images had such marks. Possibly a plane? There is an airport nearby although I have not checked to see the usual flight patterns at the Canberra airport it does seem to be descending or ascending but the particular shape and size of the object and the distance it seems to be, I wanted to ensure a UFO was not sighted, therefore am requesting the assistance of MUFON to possibly verify for me."

18 October 2014 2015hrs EDST 15km E of Apollo Bay, Victoria 45mins Raw
"Strange flashing disc shaped lights moving off the coast near to sea level...There were at least two separate flashing disc which appeared to respond to each other with alternating flashes. The flash was rhythmic (a series of two flashes with a 1-2 second pause between each flash, followed by a longer 5-10 second pause before the flashing would repeat. Each flash lasted for less than 1 second. The light was a bright yellow white. There was no noise discernible and the discs appeared to be shifting position while heading further out to Bass Strait in a south-easterly direction..." Viewed through binoculars.http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting

18 October 2014 2015hrs Kilsyth, Melbourne, Victoria ?mins Raw
"My partner and I were standing in the driveway of our property in Kilsyth, when I noticed an object in the sky out of the corner of my eye. Initially i believed the object to be a commercial aircraft. Then I realised it wasn't a jet. as there was no accompanying airline noise, in fact the object was silent. The object resembled a fireball, and it was travelling North-South. We were facing toward Mt Dandenong (East.) We watched the object on its trajectory and it appeared to be moving faster than any jet I have seen. At one point a ball of light fell from the object . We watched the object continue its path across the night sky until it was out of view." (Witness Dean.)http://www.onlymelbourne.com.au/ufo-sightings-melbourne#VEXn6YazCQ

23 October 2014 2030hrs Camperdown, New South Wales (3-4)mins Raw
In a partly cloudy sky, Anna saw a "small red light with some flashing lights in a west-south-west direction. Shot into the sky rapidly and then hovered in the same area for 3-4 minutes. Quite low in the sky...looked like it was rotating slightly. Heard no noise..."http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting

25 October 2014 2130hrs Mango Hill, Queensland 2mins Telephone report
Two people, looking toward the south, observed a bright red fireball cruising slowly high in the sky while travelling north to south. It appeared to have something spinning within, while it cruised above clouds at a constant speed before blinking out. The couple observed it for 2 minutes and captured it on video which we hope to receive soon. They also reported seeing the same thing on August 2 at 9.15pm but closer. During the latter sighting, observed for 5 minutes, the object performed a few radical moves (up and down, side to side) for a few seconds while passing overhead.
UFO Research Queensland.

26 October 2014 Approx 2100hrs Between Lindenow & Bairnsdale, Victoria (5-10)secs Raw
Ben and Helen Hurle were driving, when "we saw a ball of light appear suddenly, off to our left in the fields of Hiilside, it was about 100 meters or less away, and about the size of a grapefruit, at that distance. It was the colour of the attached pic, and a little blue around the edges. It appeared, then dropped straight down and disappeared. It was at about 50 metre altitude..." Cloudy sky. Warmish temperature.
Ben Hurle - Facebook 28 October 2014.

27 October 2014 1840hrs Wireless Hill, Adross, Western Australia 0.5sec Raw
Looking north, the witness saw "a bright green object falling through the sky. It was falling 20 degrees east away from north...I was slightly confused and intrigued because it was clearly glowing green and there was still a lot of sunlight in the sky." There were other reported observations of the same thing, from other Perth locations.http://www.sydney.observatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting

27 October 2014 2100hrs Doonan, Queensland 120mins Raw
Two star-like objects were seen at a 45 degree elevation, north-west above the tree line. They were moving erratically. Over 20 minutes they "moved up and around changing course with ease." He stopped watching, then "I have been out to see if they are still there every 10 minutes for the past two hours and one has gone, but the other has risen considerably higher..." Sky was clear initially but then a storm was rolling in.http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/2007/report-a-sighting

Notes:
1. For the October listing, many thanks to UFO Research Queensland for their input. Their website is at www.uforq.asn.au and their reports hotline number is 07 3376 1780.

2. There is a new UAP group in South Australia, named the "South Australian UFO Network" (SAUFON). Their telephone hotline number is 0437 976 836. We look forward to their participation in this listing, in the near future.

3. Thank you to the Tasmanian UFO Investigation Centre (TUFOIC) for their support in this new venture.

4. Also, thanks to the Adelaide based Australian UFO Research Association (AURA) for their support.

5. A request has been submitted to Victorian UFO Action (VUFOA), asking if they wish to participare in this listing. For their website, go to http://www.vufoa.com/ Their reports hotline number is 0497 610 844.

Saturday, November 1, 2014

When investigating UAP reports, besides on-site interviews, I use a number of readily available tools. A number of people have asked me to publish details, in order that they may also use them, so here they are.

Webtrak:
This website, click here, run by Air Services Australia, allows you to view a secondary radar derived map, showing the location of aircraft near the main Australian airports. You can view an area up to 50 kilometres from these selected airports, to an altitude of 30,000 feet. Only aircraft carrying a transponder (click here) show on the map. For each aircraft, you can find details such as its flight number, originating airfield and destination airfield, and its moment to moment height, plus the type of plane. You can check timewise, from 40 minutes in the past, to three months in the past.

My suggestion is, that for every UAP report that comes in, that you use Webtrak to determine if any aircraft match the position and movement of the UAP.

Sky charts:
There are several astronomical sky charts available on the net, e.g. Sky View Cafe, (click here) or Fourmilab (click here.) These provide locations of the Sun, the Moon, the planets and bright stars, for any date, time and geographic location.

The use of a sky chart will enable you to compare the location in the sky of any UAP to Sun, Moon, planets and stars. If day time, a UAP 22 degrees from the Sun could be a "sun dog" (click here); 22 degrees from the Moon could indicate a partial lunar halo. If the planet Venus is in the morning/evening sky, and the witness does not report seeing both the UAP and Venus, then the UAP could actually be Venus.

A sky chart can also be used to determine the time of sunrise/sunset and moonrise/moonset for any geographical location.

24 hour radar:
This website (click here) allows you to track aircraft movements at any time, at any location on earth, provided they are using a transponder. Again, as with Webtrak, you can compare UAP details with aircraft details.

Weather data:
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology website (click here) allows you access to weather data from hundreds of locations around Australia. Details available on a daily basis, going back 14 months, include wind direction, wind speed, cloud cover percentage, and temperatures. All for free. If you want to go back further than 14 months you can do so, but there is a fee for this service.

Wind direction might, of course, suggest that the UAP was a wind blown object, e.g. a hot air garbage bag balloon. If the witness tells you the sky was clear when they saw a UAP yet your check of the Bureau site tells you the sky was totally overcast, then you might start to think there is an issue with your witness' information.

Primary radar data:
Secondary radar imaging, such as from Webtrak, only shows information from aircraft which have transponders onboard, radiating a signal which is picked by by secondary radar. Primary radar however, shows anything which reflects a transmitted radar signal. Primary radar is what the RAAF uses. However, to obtain copies of this data, you will need to submit a Freedom of Information request to the Department of Defence. The RAAF appears to recycle its radar data every 30 days, so you need to be quick to receive this type of radar data. You might also consider submitting an FOI to Air Services Australia seeking primary radar data, if they have it, for the nearest airport to the UAP location.

Newspapers:
If you have one UAP observation from a location, there may be other unreported observations. To ascertain this, I often check the web for the nearest local newspaper to the UAP location, and check the digitised copy of the relevant newspaper for further sightings. If I find none, then I might email the newspaper seeking any reader who may also have sighted the UAP and ask them for details.

The net itself:
If I receive a UAP sighting from say, Burra, South Australia on 29 November 2013, I will use an internet search engine using Burra, and the date as keywords, to see if I can find additional sightings on the net, or possible explanations.

Historical reports:
If you are looking into an historical report, your nearest State Library is an excellent resource. It has accessible newspapers, and often runs of old magazines published by UAP groups. Old newspapers can provide daily weather details, often far cheaper than going through the Bureau of Meteorology. Rare, or hard to find copies of UAP books are also often held by State Libraries.

The National Archives of Australia and the National Library of Australia are also sources of files, photographs, old newspaper clippings and other reference material.

State Libraries also hold hard copies of old electoral rolls, up to about the year 2011. If you are trying to locate witnesses to old cases. I have successfully located individuals associated with cases as far back as 1965!

In summary:
The above, are a few of the numerous electronic and hard copy means of assisting investigating a UAP case. However, they are only additional means. There is nothing like the old fashioned on-site interview with a reporter, where they can show you the trajectory of the UAP across the landscape where you are standing.

If blog readers know of other Australian resources, I would be delighted to hear from you.